Not surprisingly, Tony Stewart -- and Jeff Gordon -- were targets of the media Friday at Pocono. Credit: Autostock

Notes: Gordon, Stewart played phone tag

Both drivers say last week's fracas at Dover is in the past

LONG POND, Pa. -- Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart swapped verbal barbs -- albeit through media mouthpieces -- last weekend at Dover after Stewart's Home Depot Chevrolet made contact with Gordon's DuPont Chevy.

	Jeff Gordon was 27th in final practice Friday at Pocono. Credit: Autostock
	No car wars?Gordon and Stewart talk about the Dover incident Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

In separate interviews Friday at Pocono, the drivers said they had both made attempts to communicate this week, that the comments were made in the heat of moment and they had moved on.

"(Tony) called me this week and I called him back and left him a message," Gordon said. "I want to move on and move past it and go racing."

"There isn't a situation between the two of us," Stewart said. "I've called him three times and left him messages to call me, but I've been out of town for the past couple of days, so I don' know if he's called me or not."

Both drivers admitted pressure and frustration are constant companions in Nextel Cup racing for many competitors. After the wreck, Gordon was relegated to his third consecutive finish worse than 30th.

"I recognize that we have to race week in and week out," Gordon said. "We're trying to win a championship here, we're not trying to prove who can go out and wreck one another. It's not about that.

"We've had three rough weeks -- the last thing I need to be doing is worrying about Tony Stewart."

Gordon fell out of the top 10 in the standings, to 11th. For his part, Stewart finished only 15th at Dover, but moved up a spot in the standings, to fifth.

"I don't think there's anything there," Stewart said. "I know the stuff he said after the race was harsh (Gordon said 'I was pretty harsh as well.'), and then it kind of got me wound up, too, but I think that's heat of the moment stuff.

"Jeff is a professional and I don't think Jeff would ever take anybody out intentionally anyway. So after I got home, I didn't think there was too much truth to that, anyway."

Nextel Cup director John Darby visited Pocono's infield media center Friday afternoon to say NASCAR's gear decision for the Pocono 500 was not made to specifically eliminate shifting, but to continue attempting to limit engine RPMs to below 9,500.

Rusty Wallace says he's actually working less hard at Pocono now thanks to the gear rule. Credit: Autostock

As with any other change, there was a difference of opinion, and Gordon, a three-time Pocono winner, was adamantly in the 'con' side.

"I'm really against what they've got here," Gordon said. "I think it's really going to make the racing bad. With us not being able to shift and get up off the corners is not a good thing.

"I wish there were exceptions they had throughout the season and places where the gear rule didn't exist and this should be one of them, in my opinion."

Penske Racing teammates Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman said they missed the busy-ness that shifting created.

"Coming off the corner is the same -- the horsepower is the same," Wallace said. "I thought it would really bother me, but you're working less hard out there.

"It's easier not to shift, and I've won races here shifting and not shifting. You just don't do anything when you don't shift. You just drive it.

"I keep finding myself reaching up for the gear shifter and wanting to pull it down, but it's all the way down already. Right now I'm just working hard on the handling (but) every single time I come to Pocono it's always different -- it's never the same.

"It was kind of boring -- there wasn't a whole lot of action," Newman said. "The track is a lot rougher than it's ever been, so we'll see how it works out.

"The race will probably be the same as last year -- a track position race. Any time you have a change everybody is going to complain. We'll just have to wait and see how it works out, but it'll put less stress on the motors."

With several drivers trying to do double duty at two of the three venues running NASCAR national events this weekend, stand-ins have been called into play.

Mike Bliss has some help this weekend at Pocono. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

But double duty isn't the only reason frequent flyer miles are being logged. Brendan Gaughan left Texas Motor Speedway to come to Pocono on Friday to assist Mike Bliss -- who had a recent hernia surgery -- shake down his No. 0 NetZero Best Buy Chevrolet.

Bliss proved to be a quick healer as he was 14th in the Happy Hour session after Gaughan clocked the 21st best lap in the first session.

"I had the operation Monday morning and by Monday afternoon, I was in bed wondering what I did to myself," Bliss said. "This hurts more than I thought it would, so we had to come up with a plan.

"Brendan is a good guy and I know he'll do a good job. We just had to have a backup plan if I just couldn't get in the car."

Sterling Marlin and Carl Edwards will travel from Pocono to Nashville on Saturday to qualify the Busch cars they will race Saturday night. Bud Pole Qualifying for the Pocono 500 is Saturday at 12:10 p.m. ET.

A combination of FitzBradshaw Racing teammates David Stremme and Tim Fedewa were slated to practice Marlin's No. 40 Ferris/Snapper Dodge in addition to their own Navy and St. Jude Chargers, respectively.

Hank Parker Jr., who has not raced since competing in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, will practice Edwards' No. 60 Charter Ford. Johnny Sauter is expected to practice both his own No. 1 Miccosukee Dodge and the No. 32 Win Fuel Chevrolet that Truck Series driver Ron Hornaday will race Saturday night in Nashville.

"It wasn't on the schedule," Marlin said, "but Scott Lagasse didn't get approved at Dover. I guess I'll run Nashville and Kentucky and possibly two or three more races to help them out until Scott can get going and get approved and run the bigger tracks."

Jeremy Mayfield, who a year ago won the 26th race of the season, at Richmond to qualify for the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, said he would rather be in the top 10 in the standings now, as opposed to later.

Jeremy Mayfield is 12th in the Nextel Cup Series standings. Credit: Autostock

Mayfield was asked to comment on "big name" drivers such as Jeff Gordon (11th), Matt Kenseth (22nd) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th) being out of the top 10.

"The big name guys ought to be in the top 10 anyway or they wouldn't have big names -- that's the way I look at it," Mayfield said. "They should be able to drive their way up there no matter what."

Heading into Sunday's Pocono 500, Mayfield's No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge is 12th, 35 points out of the top 10.

"As far as us, we just want to get in the top 10 and stay there," Mayfield said. "We don't want to sit here and worry about it. We are concerned right now (and) we want to be in it right now.

"We don't want to wait until later, so we're doing everything we can do to get there. It'll be interesting to see who's in it and who's not this year."

Marlin can hardly move about in the Nextel Cup garage area without facing questions about his driving future.

On Friday morning at Pocono he gave the latest update on where he's going after his Chip Ganassi Racing contract expires at the end of this season.

He indicated racing in the Busch Series was part of his plan.

"Hopefully we can get everything put together," Marlin said. I've got a meeting next week on a couple of deals. Hopefully by the time we get to Daytona Beach on July 4th we'll have our ducks in a row.

"We'll run the full Cup deal. We might do 20-25 Busch races (for FitzBradshaw).

"The Busch cars are pretty close to the Cup cars, and that's really the only reason I did it this year -- to help the Cup side with air pressure and springs and shocks and stuff you might find over there to transfer over here."

Marlin said the rumors that have swirled around his status for nearly two months have not distracted him.

"No, not at all," Marlin said. "I've been doing this a long time, so not at all."